“Oh, that’s strange,” I said, more to myself than to him. “Anyways, if you’ll give Aiden the message for me, and again, please make sure he knows that Eric is okay so he doesn’t worry too much. Thanks, Ryan.” Why didn’t a guy who had been in the administrative assistant pool with Aiden’s company for years know a woman who supposedly was too? Eric started crying again and snapped me out of my thoughts. I didn’t have the time or the inclination to think about any of that right now. Eric was all that was important. I filed it away and I would ask Aiden about it later. I’m sure he had another good explanation.
Rose drove quickly but safely and we made it to the hospital in minutes. I took Eric inside to the ER while Rose found a parking space. They took him straight back once they heard it was a burn and while the doctor was checking him out, a social worker interviewed me about what happened.
“How did he get burnt?” she asked.
I told her what had happened at the café and she said, “So there were witnesses?”
I knew that they had to be sure the child who couldn’t speak for himself wasn’t being abused, but it still made me feel like I’d done something wrong.
“Yes, there were a lot of witnesses,” I said.
“There’s one right here,” Rose said, walking in then. The social worker asked a few more questions and I could tell that Rose was really indignant about it.
When she left, Rose said, “The nerve of that woman, you’re the best mother that I know.”
“I think it’s just protocol. I don’t really care, as long as they’re taking good care of Eric.” One of the nurses passed by then and I asked, “Will the doctor be in soon?”
“Yes, he’s on his way now,” she said.
The doctor was a nice older man with a calm tone of voice and he was really good with Eric. He distracted him with his stethoscope and other medical instruments while he examined him. When he’d finished, he told me that Eric’s burns were technically just “scaldings” and that they would treat him here and then give me some silver sulfadine cream to keep them soothed and cool and he would be fine. I was so relieved I wanted to cry. Eric had stopped crying and now seemed to be enjoying the special attention that he was being shown. Two nurses were slathering the cream on him and he seemed to be flirting with them with his eyes. He was so much like his handsome father, I thought with a smile. As if I’d thought him up, Aiden rushed in right then.
“What happened?” He was on the verge of panic when he saw his son lying on the table.
“He’s okay,” I told him in a calm voice. “We were at the coffee shop and a lady bumped into the table. Eric got splashed with my hot coffee…”
He turned away from Eric then and coming inches from my face he said, “Are you crazy? You don’t leave a hot cup of coffee close enough to a baby for it to get spilled on him!”
I was taken aback right away by his tone, and even more so when I saw that the nurses had stopped what they were doing to look at us and Rose was wearing a shocked expression.
“I didn’t leave it close to him. I bent to pick up his shoe that he’d dropped and when I did, I made sure the coffee was far enough away that he couldn’t reach it.”
He glanced at Rose whose face didn’t look happy about the things he was saying or the tone he was using. Then, he looked back at me.
“Or maybe you were too busy chatting up your old friends to pay attention to our son?”
Rose stood up and said, “Now wait a minute…” She looked like she wanted to tear into him. I put my hand up.
“It’s okay, Rose. I have this.” Then I looked back at Aiden and said, “You weren’t there. You have no idea how frightened I was when this happened. As usual, you weren’t there. You’re never there anymore.” I knew this wasn’t the time or place for that discussion, but the stress was wearing on me and I felt like I was losing it. Before I said anything else though, Aiden’s phone rang.
He looked at it and said, “I have to take this.”
He walked out of the room right in the middle of our conversation. For the second time that afternoon, I was appalled. He stepped out and I felt Rose’s reassuring hand on my shoulder. I smiled at her, I was sincerely grateful she was there.
Within a few minutes Aiden came back in and went over to where Eric was. He kissed the baby’s face and said, “Daddy loves you, Sport. I’m glad you’re okay.” Then he looked at me and said, “I have to go back to the office. I’ll be home this evening, probably late.”